


so quiet in the world tonight

by shafferthefirst



Series: princess of the playground [5]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Baby Fic, Cuddling, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Fluff, Plotless Fluff, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 22:17:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4238601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shafferthefirst/pseuds/shafferthefirst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma didn't recall dosing off in her hospital bed, but she certainly didn't mind waking to the sound of Fitz speaking so softly and sweetly to their daughter across the room she swore, if it were at all possible, that her heart grew two sizes from just hearing it.</p><p>-</p><p>Set pre-part 1, so it can be read on its own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	so quiet in the world tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I'm so desperate for baby fluff from Jemma's point of view (most of the time it's from Fitz's, which is wonderful on its own, but mommy!jemma is my lifeblood) that I just had to write this plotless fluffalanche. Sorry?
> 
> Title is from "Never Grow Up" by Taylor Swift.

Jemma didn't recall dosing off in her hospital bed, but she certainly didn't mind waking to the sound of Fitz speaking so softly and sweetly to their daughter across the room she swore, if it were at all possible, that her heart grew two sizes from just hearing it. She risked one eye open, not yet willing to break the tender moment. 

He stood against the wall with the bundle tucked into his arms, smile wide as Peggy's tiny fingers blindly reached for his nose and eyes shining adoringly and entirely on her. The loving way he had looked at her for years now was nothing in comparison to the gaze he gave his little girl. It was an expression she’d never once seen before in all the years she spent learning and memorizing the many he had, like it was formed within the last eight hours and entirely for her. It was breathtaking.

She quickly snapped her eye shut when he moved to glance in her direction. The sound of quiet footsteps on the tile increased in volume before she felt a familiar pair of lips, warm and gentle but somehow more intimate than ever before, press a kiss against her forehead. A grin spread across her face and she nuzzled against his chin.

Jemma dramatized her stir back to consciousness just a bit (because she was definitely asleep - yes.), blinked a few times, and focused in on the sea of blue before her. 

"How was your nap?" he asked.

"Much needed, thank you," her hand stretched up to caress his jawline with her fingers. "But I do think it's my turn to take her now."

"Thought you might say so," he smirked. He shifted Peggy into her outstretched arms carefully. After passing her along their fawning team all day the exchange felt more comfortable. Once that the constant fear of accidentally dropping her like a hot potato had faded, that is. "Someone missed you. Didn’t you miss Mummy?" Peggy snuggled into her warmth to prove his point.

 _Mum_ was still very new in the list of words she was commonly associated with. Jemma had secretly always wanted to be a mother, just with her life paving itself so early on and the high maintenance that her job required, a family of her own just never really seemed to fit. So she placed that desire in a box and locked it away. That is, until the unexpected blue plus sign put visions of offspring with her eyes and Fitz’s smile as well as a half of each of DNA in her head.

It was strange and exciting in theory, but being referred to it by half the team whenever they brought up her pregnancy and testing the word out to herself was nothing in comparison to Fitz calling her that in his baby talk voice (not realizing how attractive that could be until now) as he placed their daughter, with all ten of her fingers and more that she made herself, in her arms.

The thought of one day hearing it in Peggy’s voice brought tears to her eyes.

"I missed you too," she whispered before they could fall, letting her fingers trace a line up and down the shield on her Captain America onesie peeking out of the blanket and cooing when she made a soft content sound in return.  

Fitz broke the moment by nudging her gently. "Scoot." She side-eyed him playfully and made room for him to climb in beside her, lifted slightly as he slid his arms around them and rested his chin on her shoulder.  

"I still can't believe it," she murmured, a small tremor in her voice. 

"I know," he stroked the back of Peggy's head. "You let me keep a child before a monkey." 

" _Fitz_."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." He whispered _mostly_ against her neck and left a kiss there before she could push him aside.

A soft gurgling interrupted the comfortable silence, to which they both broke into hushed laughter. 

"She looks like you," he murmured after studying the two of them side by side. 

"Fitz, please, it's nearly impossible to tell at this age-"

"No, no no trust me. This is all you. I mean look at that nose." As if they had rehearsed it during her nap, Peggy wrinkled her nose immediately. "See? A spitting image."

"If that's how we're going to play, look at how thick her hair is already," she gestured to the soft tuffs barely peeking out from her cap, "that's definitely not mine. Poor thing is doomed." 

"Thought you liked my hair," he mumbled. 

"I'm just teasing, love," Jemma pressed a kiss to his hair to prove her point. 

Grinning, he wrapped his arm around her tighter. "She is a spitting image of you though, truly." 

"You think so?" 

"I do. But with my eyes.”

Not having the heart to inform him that the color could possibly change, she grinned.

“But mostly you. Good thing, though.” He flushed, almost bashful. "We need more of you in the world."

"You're such a sap." 

"Am not." 

"Are too." 

"Am _n-"_ he said at the same moment the baby let out a small noise, silencing him immediately. 

"Daddy _is_ a sap, isn't he, Peggy?" Ignoring his pout, a smile she couldn't seem to fight back (not that she tried very hard) crept across her face upon realizing it was only the second or third time she'd addressed her daughter as her name in person.

"Peggy," she said again, just because. "Hello, Peggy." 

"Margaret," he added. It was his idea to go for the full form of the name. And, while she adored it, Jemma fully intended on calling her by her nickname as she grew and toddled down the halls of the SHIELD base and made her own footsteps on the world (like the legend which she was named for herself) wherever she may lead them in.

"Margaret," she agreed. "Margaret Fitz..." 

"-Simmons." He finished for her, lips trembling just a tad, and he grew blurry as the happy tears finally spilled over as the weight of their words sunk in. Sure, they'd said it a thousand times, but all of those were for introducing each other. This time, it was for their child. _Their_ daughter.

“Crying again?” Fitz teased lightly but still wiped away her tears with his thumb. He really didn’t have room to talk anyway. 

She bumped her head against his before leaning into his touch. “Bugger off. It’s been an emotional day.” 

“I know, love.” 

“And painful.”

“Don’t I know it,” he nodded down at his hand that was likely nearly broken in her grip, but froze at her raised eyebrow. “No I, uh didn’t, I mean- it looked…painful. Very.” He cowered uneasily when her stare didn’t waver. “H-how do I get out of this one?”

“You don’t,” she sneered. “Need I remind you that I carried this _miracle_ around for nine long months-” 

“I know…”

“-like a bowling ball in my uterus-”

“I remember…”

“-crushing most of my vital organs-”

“Jesus Christ...”

“-and pushed it out of a hole the size of a ripe lemon-”

“At least I didn’t faint…”

"-and it was entirely your fault-”

“Completely…” he buried his face in her hair, then sat back up he realized what was said. “ _Hey_ , now, I think you were a part of that too. _Willingly_ , I might add.” 

Her expression softened. “You’re right, you’re right. Though technically it wasn’t _me_ that forgot-”

“Ah, oh look! Look! Her eyes are open!” the blundering father quickly steered her attention away from his mistake and back to their daughter, the product of it, blinking up at them innocently and tightened his gentle grip on the two of them, holding his whole world in his arms impossibly close.

Playful glare melting into her own new expression she herself had made purely for her little girl, Jemma smiled down at her. “Hi, beautiful. Are you listening to Daddy put his foot in his mouth?” She pecked his cheek when he groaned. “Hey. You know I love you, right?”

“I know,” he murmured. “I think this little one here proves it.”

She carefully shifted her hold on Peggy to one arm and used her free hand to caress the back of his neck, pulling his lips to hers in a slow, sweet kiss. He kept his eyes closed when they broke and leaned his forehead against hers, noses brushing slightly too.

“And I love you too, if that wasn’t obvious.”

“I know,” she beamed, nodding down at the cooing child in her arms. “I think this little one here proves it.”


End file.
